Midnight Readings
by Inked Lotus
Summary: As Ruby Rose find herself unable to sleep, she decides to look for something to read, but she wasn't counting on the book's plot twist or her active imagination. Mild Rosewick, mild swearing


It was a late night a beacon academy, couple hours past midnight when young huntress Ruby Rose found herself unable to drift back to the dream realm. She was sure that she was awoken by the sound of Yang coming late to the bedroom, probably after going to Junior's bar or something of the sort. As she was unable to fall sleep by just staying on the bed, she decided that maybe some of the night air could lull her back to her sweet dreams.

The young huntress walked through the deserted halls of the academy aimlessly when a sudden thought crossed her mind. Not long ago, she had being almost trapped by a series of books, the books told the tale of the just graduate huntress Thistle Sylvann, a young hero that fought for the right causes of the world facing both monsters and those who were becoming into them. As she remembered the series was told to have five confirmed books, the first one told the story of her graduation and the first mission in which she face the fierce Grimm that inhabited the outlands. The second book had introduced Thistle's nemesis, a villain under the name of Savinus Irage, the man was never described in the books and it was only told that Savinus wore a black mask with a Grimm eye on the right side along with a black tattered robe that concealed his entire body. His weapon was called Ghoulish Scream and was a black claw that seemed to pulse at being watched. Ruby had nightmares the first time the weapon was described, imagining the weapon pulsing with evil born from the man that used it. After that the other two books went on how Thistle tried to catch this wretched man, who had manipulated and used, no counting murdering, thousands of people onto doing his work. Ruby could say completely sure that he hated Savinus Irage, but as she remembered, she was never able to read the fifth book, Blake had told her that once she got her hands on it she was going to be the first one to know, but the announcement never came.

As the young huntress walked back onto the hall in which was her bedroom, she decided that, if Blake had such a good series of books, she could borrow another one, after all, she always wanted to read that book of ninjas she was always reading, but she never could seem to find it on the bedroom, even when Blake was asleep. As she silently walked inside the room and sneaked her way to the shelf between the 'bunk beds' she started taking out the different books, seeking for a new catchy title, but as she dropped the books n the flor one of them lost the fake cover that was on it, ruby freaked out by it and tried to put it back on but she stopped as she saw the big letters of the title ' _Thistle Sylvann and the aftermath of Valis_ ' her mind quickly worked out the final of the fourth book, Savinus had exploded multiple buildings inside the city, most of them from the base ground, allowing Grimm to enter Valis's city (which was the book's equivalent for Vale) through the underground and Thistle was sent to fight back the Grimm and save the citizens of Valis. Ruby's face lit up at the sight of the fifth book of the series, not even bothering to think on why Blake had kept this from her. She climbed back to her bed, and closed the red blanket that was hanging over her bed and, using a flashlight she started the fifth book.

She hadn't noticed the time pass, Ruby Rose was already at two chapters of the end of the book, she was holding her breath (figuratively speaking) but the title of the chapter got her full attention ' _The truth behind the monster_ ', over the last chapters, Thistle had been finding different persons that always seemed to point her in the same direction, now the young huntress found herself walking on the dark part of the city, her trusty weapon on her back. Ruby was sure that Thistle was on the right track, this could take to one of Savinus old hideouts that could point her towards the new location, and at the end of the book finally capture him and take him to the justice. But as Ruby advanced on the chapter she found Thistle walking on a shady apartment complex, almost empty, and was now hiding behind the only door that had light on the inside.

' _As Thistle held her breath, she could her the faint sound of the shower, a soft classical piece could be heard also. When she shifted her weight towards the door, it opened a little, as she shifted her weight back. She was more than secure that the person living inside that house was an associate of Savinus, and once she took him to Titan's military they would get the actual location of Savinus. But as she walked through the apartment, keeping silent so she wouldn't alert the one in the shower. She was finding the usual need of the usual humans, a plate of food just made, a glass with champagne, and the television in front of the table. She walked away from the dining area and walked through the apartment._

 _As she entered the last room on the place, she could see the aster bed that this villain slept in. She walked farther into the room and looked around, there was some clothes on the floor, a white shirt, a grey jacket and black pants, both of the last were signed with a golden leaf._ ' Ruby was without air, she remembered the golden leaf, in book three Thistle had been trapped and almost killed by a cruel bandit leader named Artusk, she had several broken bones and had lost almost any will to live, when a man wearing that same symbol, he fought the bandits bare handed and rescued her and brought her back to the village, where she was nursed back to health and sent back to Valis. If she remembered correctly the man was called Aurus Nimrod. And was a hunter from Magnus, he had been so kind that Thistle had almost thought that he was her guardian angel,protecting her from diferent threats along the next book and even giving her information about Savinus. She was waiting for Aurus to appear and tell Thistle that he already had caught the bad guy and was in the process of getting the location of Savinus. She focused all of her attention back on the book, not even bothering to look at the hour. ' _As Thistle reminisced about Aurus, she walked to the open place of the room. She felt the air cold, her blood almost freezing, her heart felt like it was pulled out of her chest. There at the end of the big space of the room were the two things she hated the most. Her curiosity didn't allowed her to hear that the shower had stopped some minutes ago, now as she watched the perch at the end of the room, she heard the door open slowly, she was too afraid to look behind her but her nightmares were confirmed at the sound of the voice_

 _"Well, hello there little flower"_ ' the silver eyed huntress was speechless, she couldn't believe that Aurus was Savinus, there was no way in remnant that it was true. As she practically panicked on her bed rolling from one side to another, ' _there's no way that is true…._ ' She kept thinking. Aurus was good, he fought for justice, he captured and handed all of the bandits to the Magnus police force. Savinus was an evil man, he killed merciless anyone who dared to stand against him, he murdered innocents, he manipulated people, he was evil incarnated. As Ruby calmed herself, she picked up the book and started reading the next chapter, still with the idea that it was all a lie.

' _Thistle turned around slowly, looking into the man. He was wearing nothing but a bath towel, his upper body was toned, with multiple scars, his skin was caucassian, his eyes were the same deep blue color that he had sported on the day he saved her, his hair was the same golden of the falling leaves. As he walked towards her, her body wouldn't move, the fear for the man standing in front of her was so strong it was petrifying her._ ' As Ruby kept reading, soon the words started to twist into her mind, she always saw herself as Thistle, a strong huntress, ready to fight for the good of the world. But her mind had always overlapped Roman Torchwick into Savinus Irage, a wretched man, who fought only for himself, not caring about who he hurt on the way. But now, in her mind both images had taken the roles of the characters, she was now Thistle Sylvann and Aurus Nimrod, her beloved partner, had twisted first into Savinus Irage and then to the always annoying Roman Torchwick. As she read the book the little play going on in her mind had begun its action.

' _Roman walked towards her until he was practically in front, covered by nothing more than a towel. She turned her head slowly to the side, avoiding not only to look at his chest, but at the man who she once almost fell in love with. As she diverted her sight she caught a glimpse of Melodic Cudgel [1], that wretched weapon, always loyal to his monster of a Master. Roman slowly lowered his mouth to her ear and then whispered_

 _"You know red [2] it's rude to enter someone's house unannounced and armed" he whispered moving slowly a hand to the back of the girl, the fear still keeping her frozen, she was still denying the fact that Roman not only had saved her, but that had also helped her until she was ready to go back at Vale [3], as the wretched man threw her weapon next to Melodic Cudgel, she realized that she was now, not only defenseless but at the belly of the beast. Roman Torchwick was not a lame fighter, and, unlike her was far better at hand to hand combat, not to mention the wretched semblance of turning himself into a Grimm. [4]_

 _As her face was lifted by his right hand, her face became flustered, the man in front of her was a monster, but, even being a monster, he was still human under the wretched cape and the mask, there was no way that she felt she could kill him now. As her eyes locked with his, the red-haired man continued talking_

 _"You know my beautiful Red, I've been waiting a long time for a time and a place where we could meet alone" the girl trembled at his words, his eyes showing a fire she could feel inside her soul "But now, you've walked towards me by yourself. Tell me my little red, are you not afraid of the monster?" and with that, Ruby Rose, the fearless hero of Vale stood on her toes and pushed her lips towards the so called monster_ ' Ruby felt the urge to scream, not at what she had red, but at the thought that gone through her mind at the moment. But she resisted, she repeated herself that she was not a little girl, she could tolerate this… imagination outburst. She breathed deep and took up the book again, reading the scene. The book continued into a little more… mature theme than she had expected, but she was still trapped in her imaginary theater playing with herself and roman as the main characters. Every time something happened a stifled yelp could be heard from the bed. As Ruby never looked outside, she hadn't noticed that her teammates were already awake, all of them standing on the center of the room looking towards the bed. As the minutes passed, the girls lost their patience and moved down the red curtain that the silver eyed huntress had around her bed. There she was, as red as her cape, the book on the covers of the bed. She could hear Blake telling her that books like that were not for kids, Yang scolding her for reading without asking and Weiss about not sleeping properly while reading a dirty book. But her mind wasn't feeling as ashamed for reading that book as she felt for thinking on herself and Roman. Although she had no feelings for the criminal, she had always seen him in Thistle's nemesis, so when the scene came, she had nothing else to think. As her poor mind tried to calm down. The rest of team RWBY readied themselves for another day of school at beacon.

Two weeks later, under Ozpin's assignment, team RWBY and team JNPR were sent to fight Roman Torchwick and the white fang on an abandoned warehouse. Phyrra, Nora and Yang were fighting the hordes of Grimm that came from the outer side of the city, Yang was currently fighting Neo along with Ren, while Jaune, Weiss and Blake fought the white fang who were on the inside of the warehouse. AS Young ruby rose darted through the building and onto the room that was on the back. There he was, the man who moved the strings of the white fang on vale. The green eyed villain turned around slowly, his signature smirk fixed on his face.

"Well hello Red. Seems that here you are to get in my way again" his voice was annoying as ever, he turned around, his cane being always at his side. Ruby tried as hard as she could to push the images of the last book she had read, but was failing. As the man walked towards her, her heart speed up, her face was becoming redder by the second, once he was a meter or so away from her, the orange haired man talked again

"You know red, is not that every day we can meet alone. This might be a very rare chance" and with that, Ruby's mind short-circuited, her face turned the same color as the hood and she fell to her back. Roman was completely shocked at her reaction, not knowing what to do now, ' _Okay, I know I bother her a little, but… what the hell happened red? I barely talked to you_ ' he was about to go near to inspect her when Neo crashed through the wall. As she stood up, she saw the girl, then to Roman and typed furiously into her scroll.

 _What the hell did you do to her? Blondie is already mad because of my taunts, she going to become a fucking_ _nuke if she sees her like this._ Roman wanted to explain but Neo grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him away from the place. The Wolf faunus waiting for them at the bull head laughed at the sight of Roman's face, still filled with disbelief.

 ** _Hello, Inked Lotus here, returning to the streets. Well more to the bucket of Rosewick… I know this is not very loved but, I like it… and I hope you guys can forgive me. Okay, so first a few pointers:_**

 ** _[1] This was Ghoulish Scream, but in Ruby's imaginary theater it became melodic cudgel._**

 ** _[2]The book read 'Flower' but, in Ruby's twisted imagination, that became Roman's signature nickname for her._**

 ** _[3]This was Valis on the book._**

 ** _[4]This is actually Savinus Irage's semblance not Roman's._**

 ** _As always, I'm happy that you read the whole thing, I would love any pointers or comments. This is my first RWBY fanfic, and actually the idea came to me when I woke up in the middle of the night, and had to kick it the whole day because of college works. So, anyways, I was planning on writing full story but that means time and I still have classes so… guess you'll have to wait._**

 ** _Alright people, stay safe. Inked Lotus out_**


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